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IBM Predicts the Future

by Terrence O'Brien on May 1, 2007 at 07:30 AM

IBM Predicts the Future

IBM has peered into its crystal ball and released a list of what the company sees as the next five technological breakthroughs that will have the most impact on our lives over the next five years. While we found the list overly optimistic at times, its ideas are certainly exciting.
  1. You will access your doctor from anywhere
    For country mice, visiting a doctor or specialist isn't as easy or convenient as it is for city folk. IBM envisions a world in which doctors can collect and share data over the internet with ease. They'll even be able to do stuff like dispense pills and collect blood pressure readings wirelessly, via remote devices.

  2. Real-time speech translation will become a reality
    IBM's MASTOR software, already currently in use on Iraqi battlefields, translates English into Iraqi Arabic and vise-versa in real time. Expanding this to other languages has a host of obvious uses -- from business meetings, to the UN, to figuring out what everyone is so excited about on Univision.

  3. The Internet will be 3-D
    IBM sees massive online virtual worlds like Second Life evolving into a three dimensional Internet that will allow us to walk the aisles of virtual stores, try on clothes, and traipse through un-endangered rain forest. That all sounds great, but is the world really ready for Craigslist 3-D?

  4. The environment will benefit from nano-technology
    For years now, science has been singing the praises of nano-technology (technologies smaller than one micrometer), but with no tangible results. IBM seems to think its time has come and sees nano-tech playing an important role in desalinating water, building more efficient solar cells and building more advanced and reliable water distribution systems.

  5. Our mobile phones will read our minds
    Google is already coming close to this with its latest mobile search patent, but IBM sees cellular mind reading going even further . . . to potentially creepy levels. According to IBM, "Your favorite pizza joint will know when you're on your way home after a late night and ping you with a special-price, take-home meal just for you."

So that's it, huh? We've given up completely on the flying car?


Related Links:

From IBM via Textually.org


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